Determined to achieve each of the above through the power of my pinterest boards

When you look up the definition of the word “health”, Google claims it is the state of being free from illness or injury, a person’s mental or physical condition.

It’s funny how when one thinks of weight loss, we often state we are getting healthy. I suppose, in reality, we have given being overweight a stigma of being unwell. Which is sad as there are many people who are most likely both healthy and obese (you really can be both).

Sadly, I don’t think I am one of those people. At least not at the moment.

For the past several weeks my foot has ailed me. Now let me start out saying I have the world’s worse feet (I use to think ugliest too, but then I googled what a particular foot problem looked like, and realized my feet really aren’t that bad – or at least they could be a lot worse). Anyhow, I digress, I have what I think might be plantar’s fasciitis. I’m down to just heel pain again (for a bit I had my arch hurting, my ankles hurting – you see I sprained both ankles about 10 years ago and it takes very little for them to flare up at times – and one of the reasons that I think this could have happened is because of my weight.

I’m over 200 pounds and I need to lose weight. Sadly, having ailing feet doesn’t help me at all with the whole “I need to lose weight” part of my life. Not that I have actually been overwhelmingly motivated to do anything.

Tomorrow I am going to begin working on being a healthier me. I have to do something because I’m tired of feeling like utter crap all the time. I can’t help but think I know if I ate better and exercised more and lose some of this excess weight that I would truly feel better.

It’s all about finding the will power.

How do you find the strength to make it through the day?

Here is my before picture – not exactly a full blown here is me in all my glory picture – but it’s better than nothing – especially when I’m already ready for bed. I’ll do a full-length picture tomorrow when I give my first update.

Do you have a trick to making yourself feel better? A never fail strategy that can make you go from feeling bleh (as my children would say) to beautiful?

I do!

I have a pair of filigree earrings that dangle and come to a point with a heart shape garnet and every time I wear them I just feel like I can face anything.

It’s not that they make me feel powerful. Oh contraire, they make me feel pretty. They are just so feminine that I can’t help but feel beautiful whenever they dangle from my ears.

What’s even more amazing is that I have had this pair of earrings for at least 25 years. About 2 years ago I thought I’d lost one and I was on the verge of crying that suddenly it was found.

Not that I could be totally upset, I have a spare earring – my mother didn’t wear hers and gave me her pair – and so I must have lost one already and have had the spare for years. But it’s not as shiny (did I mention they are sterling silver so the one that doesn’t get used is a bit tarnished from years of sitting in my armoire drawer).

Everyone should have a go-to piece that makes them feel good about themselves. Be it jewelry (as in my case) or a pretty top, or those perfect pair of pants that just fit well… each and every one of us deserves to be happy. And I think the below graphic sums it up best.

So my goal of blogging my great new adventure every day was cut short by my being nice and letting my children use my laptop for their fun needs and only realizing that by the time I got my machine back – I was pooped! But girl-child was happy to play Sims 3 and boy-child was all about playing games on Steam that don’t fit on his computer/tablet (or as my daughter calls it – a laplet) that I suppose it’s worth my not being as deadline oriented as I wanted to be.

Last Friday I set my alarm to get up and exercise, only to be reminded as I moved that my neck really hates to be bounced around first thing in the morning (90% of the time I end up having a migraine) so I read instead.

I read the articles that I get via email from Sparkpeople which give me tips about losing weight and staying inspired.

But I also had an email that someone had liked my blog from the night before – and I almost always go and check out new people who like my blog and when I went to the about page and it led me to articles that she wrote – I was completely blown away. Her words were just what I was looking for, and her article was entitled How I Fell in Love with Me by Reena Kanji.

I reflected on this article all day. And I pulled it up and re-read it at work several times as I just found it to be what I needed to use as an outline for bettering myself. It all starts with happiness and if we can’t like ourselves, how can we expect others to like us? Or better yet, make changes so we can be healthier versions of ourselves.

I highly recommend reading Reena’s article (linked above) and following her advice:

Be Grateful

Follow the Passion

Turn it off (as in your phone/electronics)

Use affirmations

Be of Service

These are my goals for the next few months as I try to fall in love with myself. Life is so short to be insecure about yourself. It’s easier to get healthy when you are able to let go of some of the hang-ups that have you feeling insecure all the time.

So along with being a dreamer I am going to become a do-er. I can do this. I can be the me I want to be. I want to be happy, I want to be successful, I want to be healthy (as I am really tired of feeling crappy all the time). The time is now.

So for the next 30 days I’m going to chronicle my choices here. Daily. Join me – let’s see if I change for the better.

So as I have mentioned previously, I am working on my family tree, using the free online website of Family Search to track all my ancestors. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself as I have learned so much about family members that I never knew existed, both near and far in my lineage.

The bad part of using a public forum for this is because you sometimes find people suddenly on your family tree that don’t belong there. And I find it really aggravating.

Case in point, I have 3 ancestors with the same name… Andrew Jackson Blair. And with the Andrew Jackson Blair who is my great grandfather – someone has added another Andrew into the mix – an Andrew Sloan Blair – which I know is incorrect. Why? I doubt my great great grandfather (also an Andrew Jackson Blair) and great great grandmother would name 2 sons within 4 years of each other, Andrew. Secondly, Andrew Sloan Blair was born within 4 months of another relative. I don’t see that being possible, do you?

What’s worse is that I even took the time to figure out who Andrew Sloan Blair’s ancestors were and messaged the person who has attached their person to my relatives. I received a reply a week or so later telling me that they appreciated my work and that they would clean up their tree.

But Andrew Sloan is still there.

I honestly don’t think there is a way for me to remove him from my family tree, so for the time being live with him I must.

However, that hasn’t stopped me from looking into software so I can do my own family tree and slowly build it with what I have found.

I’ll still use Family Search and Ancestry to research, but I prefer to double and triple check to make sure an ancestor is truly mine. I latched onto an ancestor that was already listed in Family Search the other day and was really excited because somehow when clicking back to see what country my family members began in – it had me related to Charlemagne (he is my great x 39 grandfather). I’ll admit, I was blown away – until when I began looking through the various people who were between me and Charlemagne, ended up having mothers that gave birth at age 4. So close to royalty.

So if you work on your family history – is there a software that you recommend? Share with me as I begin my research! Thank you in advance!

So obviously the “Keep Calm and…” phrase is everywhere. A year and a half ago I went to Boston and found the cutest shirt for my daughter that was just the perfect shade of bubblegum pink and it said “Keep Calm & Have a Tea Party”, I couldn’t have asked for a better souvenir for my trip and she absolutely loves it – surprisingly enough she still wears it all the time.

But last night I came across some really cute “Keep Calm” memes and so I’m sharing a few with you – I’m also placing the website I found each on underneath so if you like and want to share – I’m crediting who I found these from so I can share the love. 🙂

A few years ago my parent’s neighbor gave me a wooden spool that she had in her backyard. For two years the spool sat not being used.

Until this year.

This spring I began doing searches on Pinterest about upcycling spools. I couldn’t believe all the different things you can do – and would now love to get my hands on another to do another project. As you will see from my photos I re-did mine as a table with a mosaic top. But other projects are benches, flower beds, chairs, rocking chairs – all sorts of things. There is no end to what you can do when you set your mind to it.

So I wasn’t smart enough to take an honest to goodness “before” picture of my spool, but I did remember to take one after I sanded it down. I didn’t do it for a long time, I probably did the entire piece in about 15 minutes. Tops.

My next step was taking it out in my driveway and spray painting it. I went up to Home Depot and oddly initially couldn’t find the color green I was looking for. When my husband texted me back – “they don’t have the color you want?” in complete and utter disbelief. It was then I looked to the right and lo and behold – there were more colors. I chose what I thought to be a nice spring green shade.

I had only bought 1 can but ended up going up and buying a second as I was amazed at how the wood just sucked up all the paint.

The weather then became rainy and then snowy so it was a few weeks before I began working on the spool again. So when phase 2 started it looked like this:

So our next step was putting a piece of plywood on top. With the holes in the top I couldn’t create a mosaic top so with my husband’s help we put a solid top on the table.

We glued and screwed the plywood to the top of the spool and then he took a saws all (borrowed from my dad) to cut around the top of the table. Once it was all cut out he took the sander to even out the edges.

The next step was to place some rope around the edge of the top. This was fun because while hubby went to see if he had clamps, the rope all came falling off. I thought I was going to cry but we figured out that if the put the glue down, left it set up for a minute and then laid the rope down it stuck a little better. The saucers for some terracotta flower pots, the sander and coasters helped, too.

Once we gave the rope time to dry, caulk was placed on top of the screws (holding the plywood to the rest of the spool) and where the rope and table meet so when we put the mortar down it wouldn’t ooze out under the rope (hubby thought of all this).

Next step – mixing the mortar, leaving it set and then spreading it around the top of the table. I probably could have handled this part, but I think hubby likes to be useful. He mixed the mortar together and spread it on the table.

I wanted to make a sunflower so finding tiles that would give me lots of yellow or orange colors was impossible to find. Luckily we went to Hobby Lobby and found some small colored panes of glass. Along with some river stones for the “seeds” and sea glass stones for the “sky” edging, I was ready to go.

The next step was breaking the glass. My clumsiness allowed hubby to do this too. I was sure that I would end up cutting myself so he had fun breaking the glass in a box.

And then it began – putting the flower together. Initially all was good, it was putting the “seeds” in the center.

The more difficult part was placing the glass for the petals. I started placing them down and then really became overwhelmed simply because my glass was going down but it wasn’t making a flower. Then I realized that if I placed pieces of glass down and made triangles down to make my way to the end of the petals, and it started coming together so much better.

Then it was easy again – just putting the blue glass down for the edges. I didn’t buy enough but it turns out my mother had some (all the stores were closed so I really lucked out).

And then it was done – outside of my kids I can’t remember when I’d ever been so proud of myself for completing a project. I’m looking into a type of sealant to put on it so it hopefully won’t get dirty. I knew I needed to wait a few weeks so that way the mortar would be dry.

Looking forward to having a productive summer on my porch – I’ve decked it out with lights that look like mason jars and topped it off with a sunflower mesh wreath that I made as well.

I am really trying to be good. I survived my worst part of the day – going home for lunch. You see, going home has me by myself, all alone, with just my dog. And every sort of munchie food we have in the house seems to call my name.

“Becky! Becky!” they cry.

And not wanting to let the potato chips, the Doritos, or whatever junk food I have lying around to be disappointed, I oblige and feast.

But today I was strong. Today I ate my leftover fish and my spinach salad and dressing and glass of milk. Today I was good. Today I managed to stay motivated.

Yay me!

And what is doubling enticing on a day like today is I woke up with a massive headache and it’s even easier on those days to talk myself into a trip to the Circle K and get a Polar Pop.

But I stayed strong.

I started an Atkins-type diet yesterday. My doctor a year or so ago suggested I stay away from all my favorite foods – you know the ones – starchy carbohydrates. Potatoes, corn, rice, etc.

So yesterday I did that. I went to the store and stocked up on some veggies that I do like (they are few but I’m trying). I still had 11 Doritos with last nights taco salad for dinner. But that’s it. I came in just 3 grams shy of my minimum carbohydrate intake that has been assigned to me by Sparkpeople.

Tonight I plan on having some rice with dinner. Nothing major but having a little bit is better than eating them all day long as I would normally do.

What do you do to stay strong?

* Just wanted to mention where I found my motivational clips today. The first one (green) was from Standout Health and the latter is from HealthyPlace.com.

Everyone needs motivation in their life – I know I do – and Mondays are always great days to get a little extra motivation – because Mondays make great days to begin things.

I know a few weeks ago I seriously began working at losing weight. Or so I thought until I stepped on the scale this morning and I gained .6 lbs instead of losing. I’ve done the talk to myself that muscle weighs more than fat – but I know another part of it could be that I just didn’t track and watch my food as carefully as I should have.

I actually was doing rather well until Friday at lunch. And then I decided to have a Dr. Pepper and it was a place where they have a bottomless drink – and so I ended up have probably 2.5 glasses of soda. Then for dinner my hubby (without asking) orders me a large Cherry Fanta from Wendy’s with my fish sandwich (no fries – see I really was trying to be good), and then we went to a Hockey Game and I shared another Pepsi with him.

It was just never-ending soda from 1pm on.

And that is probably the REAL story of why I didn’t lose weight. My sister had a surprise birthday party for her significant other on Saturday and I’m guessing that didn’t help either. A can of Pepsi, cheese balls, crackers, pasta salad, meatballs, fish shaped cut out cookies. On top of that I had bagel and cream cheese. Twice. It was so good I had it for lunch and breakfast. Oh, and Lucky Charms too.

So you see, I am to blame. I should be jumping up and down that I only gained .6. But to keep me going through the week I love to scroll through Pinterest and just read the words of motivation. They really help to keep me on track. So I’m going to share some of my words of wisdom that I find with you!

From Popsugar.com:

From freeandfit.me:

From Elite Daily:

Hopefully these are enough to keep us going for a few days. Life is hard, we just have to learn to be tougher. Wishing you your best week yet!

If you have a motivational quote that you find really works for you – share in the comments!